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The Scottish Government was pretty blunt: “Let me be crystal clear – people should not be travelling to rural and island communities, full stop. They are endan

The Scottish Government was pretty blunt: “Let me be crystal clear – people should not be travelling to rural and island communities, full stop. They are endangering lives. Do not travel.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/21/scottish-government-furious-at-travellers-to-highlands-and-islands https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/21/scottish-gover... I believe subsequently there were restrictions introduced so that only local could travel out on ferries from the mainland - which seems pretty sensible to me. Edit: I live fairly close to one of the main roads north to the Highlands - the last time I filled my car with petrol a couple of weeks back it was very noticeable that there were a lot of people in campers and with caravans heading north with their families.

growlist 7y ago
I don't think either side comes out of this well. Rich folk fleeing to their hideaways belies a kind of sociopathic contempt for the plight of their fellow humans, who are indeed often the people they rely on for their livelihood. But then the people from these communities are often quite happy to sell up and pocket the London money being offered them for property, and often also to reap the benefits of ever-increasing numbers of tourists, so it does seem to me a little like some of the people in these communities are trying to have their cake and eat it - and the 'outsiders go home!' attitude being voiced isn't pretty. In other circumstances the left-wing media, Twitter etc. would be screaming blue murder about narrow-minded xenophobia.
- PeterStuer 7y ago
  You do realize those are not the same people? It's core capitalism, those that reap the concentrated benefits (pocket the money) dump the negative externalities on the community (viral infections).
- raesene9 7y ago
  In Scotland at least, the "outsiders go home" mentality is largely rooted in concern about level of resources available in the area to deal with Covid-19 cases. The highlands region in scotland (which has ~300k people not counting temporary residents) had < 20 beds and ventilators suitable for people suffering serious cases. There's also long distances to anything resembling a hospital and few general practitioners. The simple fact is that cities, which have most of the people, are best suited to treating people and if a load of cases start coming up in places like the highlands, it will very quickly overwhelm the limited resources available.
  - arethuza 7y ago
    At least the RAF is pre-positioning helicopters to the area and has been using larger transport aircraft to move patients from places like Shetland. However, those transport links could easily be overloaded given a full emergency.
- tomarr 7y ago
  Macro v micro behaviours
- mcv 7y ago
  I'm not so sure most of those locals benefit from that 'London money'. But they do get the added inconvenience and risk brought by entitled rich people.
mcv 7y ago
What people used to do, and probably should do again in this case, is quarantine all travelers. Not this voluntary but mostly unenforced self-isolation, but actual 3 weeks locked up in full quarantine until it's clear whether or not they carry the virus. That's the only way to be sure they're not bringing the virus to a new community.
- m4rtink 7y ago
  Many countries did this already, for example here in Czech Republic you need to stay in quarantine for two weaks if you travelled to affected area (which at this point is pretty much after any travel) or risk jail time. It event went so for as banning cross border work with neighboring countries after a few cases of infection tracked to that.
willyt 7y ago
Just to back this up with some numbers. So there's about 50000 people in the Hebridean islands off the west of Scotland, most islands have at best a couple of beds where the best you can hope for is the local GP can put you on oxygen. There is 1 air ambulance and 2 coastguard helicopters covering this region. If half the population gets it that is 25,000. If 1:20 of those need hospital treatment that is 1250. The protocol for critical care 'Big Sick' situations like breathing difficulties is immediate medevac by air to either Glasgow or Inverness. Lets say a typical helicopter evacuation might be possible to complete in 2 hrs. 1hr fly out, land, transfer casualty to chopper. 1 hr back to drop off at hospital and clean up. So one chopper can do 12 evacs every day. 1250 requiring evacuation for breathing difficulties requires a helicopter to be in operation continuously for about 100 days 24/7 to meet the demand. That is a best case scenario as many parts of the Hebrides are more than a 2 hr turnaround, aircraft maintenance, crew rest, enough trained crew to cover 24 hr operations, etc If you go to the islands and you've got it and you end up requiring hospital treatment, you will be much more likely to die from it as there will be no capacity to medevac you in time.

growlist 7y ago

I don't think either side comes out of this well. Rich folk fleeing to their hideaways belies a kind of sociopathic contempt for the plight of their fellow humans, who are indeed often the people they rely on for their livelihood. But then the people from these communities are often quite happy to sell up and pocket the London money being offered them for property, and often also to reap the benefits of ever-increasing numbers of tourists, so it does seem to me a little like some of the people in these communities are trying to have their cake and eat it - and the 'outsiders go home!' attitude being voiced isn't pretty. In other circumstances the left-wing media, Twitter etc. would be screaming blue murder about narrow-minded xenophobia.

PeterStuer 7y ago
You do realize those are not the same people? It's core capitalism, those that reap the concentrated benefits (pocket the money) dump the negative externalities on the community (viral infections).
raesene9 7y ago
In Scotland at least, the "outsiders go home" mentality is largely rooted in concern about level of resources available in the area to deal with Covid-19 cases. The highlands region in scotland (which has ~300k people not counting temporary residents) had < 20 beds and ventilators suitable for people suffering serious cases. There's also long distances to anything resembling a hospital and few general practitioners. The simple fact is that cities, which have most of the people, are best suited to treating people and if a load of cases start coming up in places like the highlands, it will very quickly overwhelm the limited resources available.
- arethuza 7y ago
  At least the RAF is pre-positioning helicopters to the area and has been using larger transport aircraft to move patients from places like Shetland. However, those transport links could easily be overloaded given a full emergency.
tomarr 7y ago
Macro v micro behaviours
mcv 7y ago
I'm not so sure most of those locals benefit from that 'London money'. But they do get the added inconvenience and risk brought by entitled rich people.

mcv 7y ago

What people used to do, and probably should do again in this case, is quarantine all travelers. Not this voluntary but mostly unenforced self-isolation, but actual 3 weeks locked up in full quarantine until it's clear whether or not they carry the virus. That's the only way to be sure they're not bringing the virus to a new community.

m4rtink 7y ago
Many countries did this already, for example here in Czech Republic you need to stay in quarantine for two weaks if you travelled to affected area (which at this point is pretty much after any travel) or risk jail time. It event went so for as banning cross border work with neighboring countries after a few cases of infection tracked to that.

willyt 7y ago

Just to back this up with some numbers. So there's about 50000 people in the Hebridean islands off the west of Scotland, most islands have at best a couple of beds where the best you can hope for is the local GP can put you on oxygen. There is 1 air ambulance and 2 coastguard helicopters covering this region. If half the population gets it that is 25,000. If 1:20 of those need hospital treatment that is 1250. The protocol for critical care 'Big Sick' situations like breathing difficulties is immediate medevac by air to either Glasgow or Inverness. Lets say a typical helicopter evacuation might be possible to complete in 2 hrs. 1hr fly out, land, transfer casualty to chopper. 1 hr back to drop off at hospital and clean up. So one chopper can do 12 evacs every day. 1250 requiring evacuation for breathing difficulties requires a helicopter to be in operation continuously for about 100 days 24/7 to meet the demand. That is a best case scenario as many parts of the Hebrides are more than a 2 hr turnaround, aircraft maintenance, crew rest, enough trained crew to cover 24 hr operations, etc If you go to the islands and you've got it and you end up requiring hospital treatment, you will be much more likely to die from it as there will be no capacity to medevac you in time.